In April this year, state-owned Hungarian gas distributor Főgáz opened its second public compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station, in the city of Budapest. A second new CNG station is fueling the city’s recent acquisitions of Iveco Stralis waste collection vehicles and Van Hool buses.
Főgáz CEO Laszlo Koncz said that his company would negotiate with taxi, municipal services and public transport operators to assist them recognise the economic benefits of natural gas vehicles and consider replacing fleet vehicles with CNG-powered vehicles. Leading by example, the company’s own fleet will gradually replace CNG.
According to the Hungarian Natural Gas Vehicle Association (MGKKE), Főgáz followed the opening of its first CNG station in 2011, at a filling station owned by Hungarian Oil and Gas Company MOL, with the founding of its sister company Főgáz-CNG Kft. Together, these companies are running the CNG fuel business.
The opening continues Budapest’s initiative to adopt natural gas as an environmentally friendly and cost-saving alternative to petrol and diesel-based transport. City-owned public transportation fleet BKV zrt recently purchased 37 second-hand Van Hool A330 CNG buses from Dijon, France. These buses have now entered service in the South-Pest region of the capital.
Henrik Domanovszky, MGKKE president, told NGV Global News the city has another new CNG filling station also, on a Főgáz site, from which the BKV buses and new Iveco Stralis waste collection vehicles are refuelling. More CNG stations are planned by Főgáz.
(Source: Főgáz, MGKKE)
